Despite
massive funding from organizations within Turkey as well as generous
American and now Israeli support (Part VI, items 1-2), pan-Turanian
Grey Wolf activists have not been successful at swaying the majority
of Iranian Azerbaijanis to their separatist cause. This was dramatically
illustrated when Olympic gold medallist, Naim Suleimanoghlu
(himself a Bulgarian Turkish migrant – see photo at left) asked HosseinRezazadeh (Iran’s heavy weight Olympic gold medallist – photo at right) to renounce
his Iranian nationality, accept Turkish citizenship and
join the Turkish Olympic team. Among the rewards promised to
Rezazadeh were 10 million dollars in cash and luxury automobiles.
Suleimanoghlu’s offer was made in public to Rezazadeh in the November
of 2002, who had arrived at Istanbul
airport.Rezazadeh
responded to Suleimanoghlu’s offer with the following statement: "I am an Iranian and love my country and people."

This
event has perhaps been one of the greatest public relations disasters
ever faced by the Grey Wolves, as it has undermined the very basis
of their beliefs and racism. Put simply, Rezazadeh’s response was
not exactly what they wanted to hear. Many “Grey Wolves” activists
were reportedly “shocked” at hearing this news.

It
is reputed that a very large number of English speaking media outlets
and academics (see Brenda Shaffer, Part VI, item 4c) were hoping
that Rezazadeh would accede to Suleimanoghlu’s request, as this would
allow for the commencement of an anti-Iranian separatist campaign
in the western media. Similar tactics were deployed against the FederalistState of Yugoslavia to encourage its destruction in the 1990s (Part VI, item 2b).

Failures
like these have been consistently hushed up by the Grey Wolves and
their supporters in the western world who remain committed to recruiting
prominent Iranian Azerbaijanis to their cause. What is interesting
is the inability of these activists to accept the fact that the
vast majority of Iranian Azerbaijanis, like Rezazadeh, not only reject
separatism, but are also offended by such actions.

(2) Hostility to Grey Wolf Activism among Iranian Azerbaijanis.

Undeterred
by the cool reception of the majority of Iranian Turcophones in general,
the Grey Wolves are adamant to “support the aspiration of our Turkish
kin in occupied Azerbaijan (meaning Iran)”.

These
efforts are doomed to failure for the simple fact that history
and scholarship is not on the side of the pan-Turanian activists.
Most important of all however are the opinions of the Iranian Azerbaijanis
themselves.

Keyvan
Valizadeh, an Iranian Azeri, graciously
gave permission for excerpts of his earlier statements to be published
in this commentary. His e-mail (dated 21/09/2005) to me stipulated
that:

“…The
link between Chehregani and the Pentagon is a thing that the Azaris
also don't know, the hatred and fights between Ottoman Turks and
Iranian Azaris are also ignored!…Thank you anddon't
forget that it is not a fight of Azaris alone but of the Iranian
Nation as a whole against pan-turkism.”

Excerpts
from Mr. Valizadeh’s earlier messages aptly summarize how many Iranian
Azerbaijanis and people of Iranic Caucasian descent feel about Mr.
Chehreganli, his Grey Wolf allies and western Geopolitical supporters
in particular:

“…Years
before in Maragheh (were I am from) the pan-turkists gave me leaflets
that said the "first Azeri hero that fought
the Persians for their independance was Babak Khorramdin".
I was now shocked because I knew it was false. I knew that
Babak (whose name I noticed was not Turkish) was
fighting the Arabs and not the Persians and wanted to restore
the glory of Persia and the ancient religion of the Persians. And I distanced myself
from them Because I hated their ocean of lies…

The
following quote by Mr. Valizadeh is also significant, as it summarizes
the feelings of the majority of Iranian Azerbaijanis:

“…Many
of the Azaris I spoke had discovered the Truth too and were glad
to say that their ancestors were Cyrus or Dariush (Darius)
and not the Mongols the Turks claim to be their ancestors…”

(3) Tepid Reception in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Despite claims
to the contrary, Pan-Turanianism has also failed to make major inroads in the Republic of Azerbaijan. As with all racialist movements, the followers of the Grey Wolves
in the Republic constitute a minority at best. There are also
unconfirmed reports stating that many of the residents of the Republic of Azerbaijan view Grey Wolf ideology with cynicism. Many in that state are cognizant
of their past historic links to Persia.

Dr.
Brenda Shaffer of HarvardUniversity (see part
VI, item 4c) claims to have “proven” that the majority of the people
of the Republic of
Azerbaijan dislike Iran. In fact, this is untrue (see discussion
of Professor Zia Boniyadov in Part VI, item 4c).

Then
there is the unfolding drama within the Republic of Azerbaijan itself.
The Republic of Azerbaijan is a new nation state whose inhabitants
have been robbed of their thousands of years of association with Persia, making them extremely vulnerable
to tough questions regarding their national and ethnic origins. The
deformities and vulgarities of racism have the potential to tragically
complicate Azerbaijan’s nation-state building efforts
and seriously undermine democracy in the country. Nevertheless, the
Republic is moving towards a healthy democratic model, barring
geopolitical interference of course. A democratic process allows
for the full expression of a wide spectrum of opinion. It is in such
an atmosphere of healthy debate that the modern inhabitants of the
Republic of Azerbaijan will
be made fully aware of their historical links with Persia.

Finally,
Persian culture remains firmly rooted in the Republic of Azerbaijan, despite
powerful attempts by Stalinism, pan-Turanianism and present western
geopolitical and petroleum lobbies to stamp it out. The Iranian
Nowruz is celebrated every year in the Republic, as seen by these
girls in Baku dressed in traditional Iranian attire
reminiscent of Sassanian times (left photo by Hamid Zargarzadeh).
Below right is another Persian tradition of the Nowruz seen in Baku – the “Sabzeh” (recall Part I, item
2i):